Smart Media System completely blank (grey so lit up a little)

MikeBlob

Hi,

Yesterday we were driving along and the Smart media system firstly stopped playing tracks on the USB, and then later on restarting the car was completely blank.

About 3 weeks ago we updated the maps successfully. I was considering whether it was worth buying an extension to the Smart Live Services.

Today I had an email from TOMTOM saying that the services had expired. Is this connected to teh issue above?

IF not, how can I reset the Smart Media and continue reusing it without the Live extension?

Many thanks

MikeBlob

I have found out the answer to this which I hope will help all the other poor souls out there with Smart Cars and Built in TomTom devices.

1. The fact that the play back of USB had frozen was a step to the SMART built in Tom Tom device freezing up. The fact that the screen was black (or dark grey) when next starting the car was a result of it totally freezing up. This is not symptomatic of the "live extension" package coming to an end.... that was co-incidental.

2. The Net is full of how to reset and reboot standalone devices where TomTom had frozen. Not so for the Smart Car built in versions. There is no "reboot button" provided. Most of what I found on the internet was of sad stories of people taking their cars to the dealer with potential high charges for diagnostics and repair.

3. I was determined to "reboot" the device before giving money to someone else. After all, Mercedes didn't seem to want to provide support for the TomTom when I asked for assistance in applying updates to the TomTom in a previous call. They referred the responsibility to TomTom, and I am yet to find a way to actually contact TomTom themselves . It seems that support is limited to posting these messages on this bulletin board and hping someine knows what to do.

4. My first thought was to remove and replace the fuse for the Smart Media System. This would reboot it if the fuse were not actually blown. I read the Smart Car manual which declared that the fuse box is behind a removable panel inside the glove box. After a thorough search and having failed to even find the panel I started feeling that I must be rather dim. Then it struck me that perhaps Smart Car couldn't be bothered to update the manual for those of us in the UK where the steering wheel is moved to the right and the glove box to the left. Sure enough there were the fuses just visible through a gap below the steering column. Very little room to work, and removal of a large plastic screw like locking mechanism to the right of the dashboard didn't help me to open a section of the dashboard to help with access. Luckily a helpful lad at Halfords who I then resorted to for help in replacing the fuse (after all, it might have been a blown fuse) managed to remove the panel with a level of force that comes with practice. He also had a suitably sized pair of pointed nose pliers to extract the fuse which remained still fairly inaccessible, and he declared the fuse intact and then replaced it.

The Smart media Centre sprang to life rebooting itself and the mission to get it rebooted was completed. Now I know how to do this I will be able to do it myself when next the TomTom device freezes.

As a TomTom device is able to freeze (and from the number of instances reported is liable to freeze) it would seem reasonable to have a simple way to reboot the inbuilt one I would have thought. One for Mercedes to address perhaps although I feel that they might well refer that responsibility to TomTom.

In all, I'm not likely to buy a car with an inbuilt TomTom or any other third party device within it that is not fully and simply, suported by the car manufacturer.

MikeBlob

I have found out the answer to this which I hope will help all the other poor souls out there with Smart Cars and Built in TomTom devices.

1. The fact that the play back of USB had frozen was a step to the SMART built in Tom Tom device freezing up. The fact that the screen was black (or dark grey) when next starting the car was a result of it totally freezing up. This is not symptomatic of the "live extension" package coming to an end.... that was co-incidental.

2. The Net is full of how to reset and reboot standalone devices where TomTom had frozen. Not so for the Smart Car built in versions. There is no "reboot button" provided. Most of what I found on the internet was of sad stories of people taking their cars to the dealer with potential high charges for diagnostics and repair.

3. I was determined to "reboot" the device before giving money to someone else. After all, Mercedes didn't seem to want to provide support for the TomTom when I asked for assistance in applying updates to the TomTom in a previous call. They referred the responsibility to TomTom, and I am yet to find a way to actually contact TomTom themselves . It seems that support is limited to posting these messages on this bulletin board and hping someine knows what to do.

4. My first thought was to remove and replace the fuse for the Smart Media System. This would reboot it if the fuse were not actually blown. I read the Smart Car manual which declared that the fuse box is behind a removable panel inside the glove box. After a thorough search and having failed to even find the panel I started feeling that I must be rather dim. Then it struck me that perhaps Smart Car couldn't be bothered to update the manual for those of us in the UK where the steering wheel is moved to the right and the glove box to the left. Sure enough there were the fuses just visible through a gap below the steering column. Very little room to work, and removal of a large plastic screw like locking mechanism to the right of the dashboard didn't help me to open a section of the dashboard to help with access. Luckily a helpful lad at Halfords who I then resorted to for help in replacing the fuse (after all, it might have been a blown fuse) managed to remove the panel with a level of force that comes with practice. He also had a suitably sized pair of pointed nose pliers to extract the fuse which remained still fairly inaccessible, and he declared the fuse intact and then replaced it.

The Smart media Centre sprang to life rebooting itself and the mission to get it rebooted was completed. Now I know how to do this I will be able to do it myself when next the TomTom device freezes.

As a TomTom device is able to freeze (and from the number of instances reported is liable to freeze) it would seem reasonable to have a simple way to reboot the inbuilt one I would have thought. One for Mercedes to address perhaps although I feel that they might well refer that responsibility to TomTom.

In all, I'm not likely to buy a car with an inbuilt TomTom or any other third party device within it that is not fully and simply, suported by the car manufacturer.

Claveh

I had this exact problem on my 66 plate, very cute, Smart for two, which Mercedes Benz wanted to charge £175 just to make a diagnosis on......followed MikeBlob's advice and job is a gooden'.
Just to add a little more advice, the obvious large screw, once removed, does allow you to pull the panel down to work with a tiny bit more space!

Thank you so much MikeBlob, I owe you a pint! xxx